Apparently, an 80 years long probate does not set a record. The Los Angeles Times reported today that a home in Orange County has been in Probate since 1925: “one of the county’s longest-running probate cases.” Only one of the longest running cases?!

As in many long-running probate cases, the delays are the result of feuding between family members, some of whom will only speak to each other through attorneys now. The probate was disputed for over a decade then settled down with only intermittent skirmishes between family members until recently.

In 1997 an heir researching family genealogy discovered that the probate was still unsettled. Family members living in the home have kept property taxes up to date but the court has finally ruled that the Administrator of the Estate may proceed with a sale of the property (against the wishes of some family members).

To read the entire story, go to http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-deed25jul25,1,5175377,print.story?coll=la-editions-orange (registration is required but free).

The United States Supreme Court has accepted a case that may dramatically impact how Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are conducted and reviewed throughout the country.

At issue is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA requires IEPs but is silent about how whether parents have to prove that an IEP is insufficient or whether school districts have to prove that an IEP is sufficient. This burden of proof issue will surely impact districts’ negotiating position in challenged IEPs.

To learn more, please visit the Wrights’ excellent article on the case
at http://www.wrightslaw.com/nltr/05/al.0722.schaffer.htm

Most Californians don’t know that our State Assembly has been considering a law permitting physician-assisted suicide in the state. Oregon is the only state to currently permit physicians to help patients to die. California Assembly Bill 651 has been put aside for reconsideration in January 2006.

The bill would make it legal for terminally ill patients to receive a fatal dose of drugs if two doctors agree to prescribe it after determining the patent (1) has been informed of alternatives and (2) is mentally competent to make a reasoned request for the drugs.

Oregon’s physician assisted suicide law was passed eleven years ago and has proven itself a workable law with effective safeguards. 208 Oregonians have taken fatal drugs prescribed for them, most of them in the final stages of cancer. Many more obtained the prescriptions but opted not to use them. Advocates say that having the prescription on hand gave them a feeling of control that allowed them to face dying naturally.

Opponents of the bill would rather see increased access to pain medication and medical and spiritual support.